


Ye Fleeting Charms of Earth

by apliddell



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 12th Doctor regenerates, Canon-Typical Violence, Car Accident, Gen, Gender Change, alternate 13th regeneration, alternate Doctor, female doctor - Freeform, timelord regeneration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-14 21:41:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17516354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apliddell/pseuds/apliddell
Summary: The Doctor is forced to regenerate after a car accident and makes a new friend.





	Ye Fleeting Charms of Earth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [A_Candle_For_Sherlock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Candle_For_Sherlock/gifts).



> I wrote this about a year and a half ago, before we got to meet the 13th Doctor, whom I LOVE. Hope you enjoy my own little invention here!

“It was here, I think,” the Doctor murmured to himself, peering at the shopfronts on the lamplit street around him. “It was just here. Best chips in the galaxy, Rose always said. Whenever we were in London, she’d want to come here. Best chips in the galaxy. I think it was here. Maybe they’ve gone out of business. Or haven’t started yet. What year is it?” He paused at that, but there was no one to answer and with a little sigh, the Doctor started muttering to himself again. “I suppose I might look for it in the TARDIS, but what sort of a way is that to look for a fish and chips shop? On foot. That’s the way to…Hang on, is that it?” He squinted at the reflection of a sign in the glass shopfront immediately before him, then backed up several paces and stepped between two parked cards out into the road, rubbing his hands together eagerly. **  
**

Just at that moment, a car came whipping sloppily round the corner and struck the Doctor head on, pinning him to a car, before reversing and flying off down the road.

“Hey!” the Doctor called after the car, from where he lay in the road. “That was a bit rude! I really think you ought to apologise for that! It quite hurt! Oooh, actually. This is. This is a bit not good, isn’t it.” He looked about him, but the road was mainly deserted. “Well at least no one saw. That’d be embarrassing.” He shut his eyes for a moment, feeling very heavy and very light at once. “Traffic accident. The other Time Lords would never let me live that down. If heh. If there were any other. God I’m depressing when I’m on my own. This is rubbish! Oooh, hello,” there was a set of running feet coming toward him. “Just looking for a parking space, were you? And now you’ve come back to apologise for breaking my legs?” He opened his eyes to find the worried face of a young person quite close to his own. “It’s a bit rude, knocking people down like that. Someone could be seriously hurt.”

“I saw what happened,” the young person gabbled, tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear. “I’ve already called an ambulance. I can help you; I’m a doctor.”

“Well isn’t that a charming coincidence? Being a doctor doesn’t mean you get to just bash into people with your car, you know. Some people would call that bad manners. A little careless. Have you seen my glasses? I think you knocked them off when you hit me with your car. Also ow! That really hurt, you pudding brain! Don’t you know that sort of thing hurts? Do they not teach it to you in medical training?”

The other doctor was feeling for his pulse and trying to look calm, “It’s okay, you’re going to be all right. You’re in shock.” She pulled off her coat and wrapped it round his shoulders.

The Doctor snorted, “Keep your coat; it won’t help. It’s pointless. Let’s see. Lacerated liver, crushed pelvis, two broken legs, and some really quite impressive internal bleeding. And broken glasses. That’ll be a regeneration. Of all the bloody stupid ways to die! I was just warming up to this face, too. Excellent eyebrows. Better than the last eyebrows, you know. People don’t respect a man without eyebrows, and these are stupendous eyebrows.”

“Keep calm,” the other doctor told him, taking his hand. “You’re not going to die, stay with me. What’s your name?”

“It’s the Doctor. No, I’m not going to die; I’m just a morbid old crank, and that’s how I talk sometimes. What’s your name?”

The other doctor frowned at him, puzzled, “Er, it’s Gillian. Gillian Moon. Doctor Moon.”

“Doctor Moon, I like that. Thematic. It’s cute. I knew a Doctor Moon once. Sort of. As it turned out, he was actually a computer. He looks after my wife now. Well I say, wife but that’s confusing. We only got married-it’s a long story. Anyway, she’s actually a lesbian. Aren’t we all? I mean, I’m not a lesbian but I am…what was I saying? Right, regeneration! All this blood loss has me loopy! Well Doctor Moon, how are you with scary things? You look scrappy.”

Doctor Moon frowned more deeply, “How do you mean?”

“Something weird is about to happen, D-say can I call you Moony instead? It gets confusing all these Doctors running about. I like to be the only one; I’m a bit childish that way sometimes.”

Doctor Moon smiled reluctantly, “Yeah, my friends call me Moony.”

“Do they?” the Doctor grinned, “Auspicious. Well, Moony, something weird is going to happen now. Something. Inexplicable. Well, for a puddingbrain anyway, no offense. And if you want to go, you can go, and I promise you you won’t be leaving me to die. You seem like you care about that. That’s nice. Refreshing.”

Moony shook her head, “I’m not going to-”

“Shut up, I’m running out of explanation time. Sorry, I get a bit sharp when I’m not dying. I’ll be all right in a moment, but it’ll get a little weird in the moment before the moment. I’ll explain when I’ve finished.“ The Doctor looked down at his hands, which were already beginning to glow gold, “It was nice meeting you, Moony. I’ve already forgiven you for hitting me with your car. Hello and goodbye and hello!” As he spoke, his face burst into that gold glow also, and he doubled over, then straightened up rigid to complete his regeneration. Moony started back with a little cry of alarm and shielded her face against the radiance of the transformation. “Well!” the Doctor said when the golden glow had receded. “Now THAT was a good one! Oooh! My teeth are tingling! New teeth. Hang on hang on!”

Moony lowered her hands from her face and gasped. “You’re a girl! How can you just. Be a girl?”

“Sorry, changed my face on you, didn’t I? Told you it was weird. Did you say I’m a girl?”

Moony nodded, “You. Yeah. I. How did you do that?”

“Hmm? Have you got a mirror or something? I want a look. My species doesn’t really do gender, not like yours does anyway, but yes, this body is a different one, isn’t it? Oooh, brilliant, I really must have a look!”

“Err.” Moony shook her head dazedly, “Sorry, no. No mirror.”

“Well no matter, there are a load of shiny things about here. I’ll probably be able to convince one or other of them to show me to me.” The Doctor jumped to her feet, staggered, and nearly fell over, “These boots are too big! Makes me clumsier, and I’ve really got enough clumsiness to be getting on with, but OH!” She threw her arms out like the wings of a great bird about to take flight, “New eyes! Brand new eyes! I gotta break em in! I want to see something stupendous! Something magnificent! There’s somewhere near here, actually! Just near here. There’s a moon orbiting Pluto, Nix it’s called. They’ve an ice skating rink there; It’s half the size of the city of Yr. An ice skating rink! The DJ plays a really good mix of songs, too. A lot of them play too many down tempo songs, don’t you think? And the ice isn’t white, it’s violet, aquamarine, magenta, chartreuse! The interaction between the ice and the air, you see! Now that’s stupendous! And there’re birds there whose tissues are crystalline. Flying crystals! At sundown, it’s like the sky is full of fire. Only you know. Not terrifying like a post apocalyptic fever dream. Glorious. Really gets that _ooo_ and _aaaah_ out of a person. But! You should come along, Moony! A solo _ooo_ doesn’t do. You’ve got to _Ooo_ in harmony.

“We should go to Harmony after we visit Yr. The people there communicate in music. They don’t have mouths, but their ears are the size of dinner plates, and they’re all over this stuff that looks like candy floss. Very cute! Don’t say that to them, though. It makes them cry. Very sensitive they are, the Harmonians. ” She offered a hand to Moony, “Get up, now. I’ve lain in that bit of road, and it’s not the comfiest place for a sleep. Oooh, gosh,” she danced a little jig, her hand still outstretched for Moony’s. “It really only takes a very few minutes of shattered pelvis to make you really really grateful for an unshattered pelvis, doesn’t it? This is lovely. Oh I can’t wait to get back out there! Wait til the TARDIS sees me! We’ll be like a girl gang! You want to join? Oooh! We could get jackets! Now I know what you’re thinking, but they’re doing marvellous things with vegan leather these days; you can scarcely tell the difference. Wait, are they? What year is it?”

“Er. 2017?”

“Oh, of course! That’s why I couldn’t find that fish and chips shop! Wrong decade! This is so me; I always do this. Really though, come on, up you get; you’re going to get blood on your trousers,” The Doctor wiggled her hand a little more insistently toward Moony.

Moony let the Doctor tug her to her feet, then seemed to sort of snap back to her senses, “Do you think you could stop dancing for a moment and tell me just exactly what the hell is going on?!”

“Can’t I dance and explain at the same time? Oooh actually, hang on. Have you got a hair elastic? Only I haven’t needed one in about a millennium, so I don’t have any on me. It goes in my eyes when I dance, and I need those to see where I’m dancing. Sproingy though, isn’t it? I quite like that. It’s been sort of bleh just sitting there, and now it’s got some life to it!” The Doctor patted her hair and gratefully accepted the elastic Moony handed over and pulled her hair into a messy topknot. “How’s that? All right? I really do need a mirror; I’ve never done my hair before. Well not this hair anyway, but I have been quite vain, if you can believe that. Got to make sure I’m in order before I’m off out. I wanna see it all but I gotta be fit to be seen, you know. Oh, whoops.” The Doctor caught a bit of stray hair as it trailed into her face and started to tucked it up into her topknot, then gasped.

Moony jumped, “What?!” She looked about wildly, as if preparing for attack.

“Moony! You didn’t tell me I’m ginger! Ohh, it must be you! You were with me when I regenerated! You made me ginger!” The Doctor began to caper about again, then she threw her arms around Moony and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek, “Thank you!”

Moony sort of giggled and went a bit pink, “Ginger? Er, yeah. Sort of. But also you’re a girl now! You’ve changed your face! You’ve. Changed! You. How can you have done that?! It’s just. You can’t have done that. This is mad! Maybe I was hit by the car, and I’m dying. Oh god.” Moony staggered toward a bench and sank onto it. “I can’t die. Who’ll feed Ventricle?”

The Doctor sat down next to Moony on the bench, “Ventricle?”

“My cat. God, I’m dying in the road and talking to a hallucination, and my little cat is going to starve,” Moony buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

The Doctor put a hand tentatively on her shoulder, “Gillian. I’m sorry. I’ve been totally unfair to you. You’re not hallucinating. What you saw was real.” Moony shook her head, her face still hidden in her hands. “It was real, I promise! Er, the short version is erm. I’m from another planet. I’m an alien. And on the point of death, my body repairs itself by er. Regenerating. I get a whole new me. That’s what you saw.”

Moony shook her head again, “How can you be an alien?”

The Doctor felt for a tissue in her pockets and handed it over, waiting for Moony to blow her nose and toss the tissue into a bin on the kerb before answering, “I just am, same as you are from Earth. Some people are born here. Some people are born elsewhere. Here. Look.” She pulled her sonic screwdriver out of her pocket. “See? Alien tech.” She pointed it, and it whirred feebly, then sparked green and gold and went out. “Oh no! What’s the bad old Moony done to you?”

Moony shook her head, “It’s a broken torch. What’s that supposed to prove? And I didn’t do that.”

“It isn’t a torch, it’s a screwdriver, and it wasn’t broken before you hit me with your car!”

“I didn’t hit you with my car! Some one else did! I just saw it happen and came over to help. Unless this is a hallucination. How can it be a screwdriver?”

The Doctor smacked the screwdriver against her palm a few times, trying to get it to work, “It’s sonic. But it’s broken. So much for proof.”

“How can a screwdriver be sonic?”

“Well it’s broken! Oh!” the Doctor brightened. “You’re a doctor, aren’t you? Medical doctor, not. Medieval history or something?”

“Yeah,” said Moony. “Medical doctor.”

“Well how many hearts would you say the average human being has?”

Moony rolled her eyes, “Just the one, I’d say.”

The Doctor smirked, “Well then.” She took Moony’s hand and guided it gently to her own sternum. “Feel this. One.” She slid Moony’s hand to the left, “And two. Two hearts. There now! Alien. Time Lord, to be precise. From Gallifrey.”

Moony was starting to look dazed again. “An alien,” she repeated.

“An alien,” the Doctor agreed.

“From another planet.”

“Gallifrey.”

“You’re sure I’m not dying?”

“Probably not! Are you feeling all right?”

Moony pressed her free hand to her temple, “I. I think so?”

“Good! Now I really really fancy some chips. I’m famished. Want to pop back in time about ten years with me? There used to be a great chip shop just somewhere around here, but I think I’m in the wrong decade.”

“The wrong decade,” Moony repeated.

“Yes, but I’ll just muck about for a bit until I find the right one.”

Moony shook her head as if to clear it, “Sorry, are you talking about time travel?”

“Of course.”

“So you’re an alien from G. Ga. Erm?”

“Gallifrey,” supplied the Doctor.

“You’re from Gallifrey. You’re impervious to traffic accidents. You have two hearts. You can change your face and your gender. And you. Time travel.”

“And I want chips. Some people are so good at explaining things!” The Doctor hopped up from the bench, “Are you hungry? I could get you some chips. I don’t have any money, but it hardly ever comes up.”

Moony stood too, hugging her elbows, “You time travel for chips? Isn’t time travel really serious, like step on a butterfly and end the dinosaurs?”

The Doctor scoffed, “Don’t get me started on Bradbury. You should hear the Martians talk about him. Anyway. Chips?”

Moony laughed a little nervously, “I don’t think I want to time travel for chips. No offense. Sounds a bit dangerous?”

The Doctor nodded, “More of a space, person. I get it; some people are. Did I already mention Nix?”

“Ice skating.”

“Right! I used to be quite good at it, but that was about ten sets of feet ago, ha! So,” she offered her hand. “Coming?”

“You want to take me ice skating on another planet. You’re awfully confident that I’m just going to let you take over my life.”

The Doctor frowned and dropped her hand, “How’s that taking over?”

“Doesn’t it take like twelve years to get to Pluto?”

“Twelve years!” the Doctor hooted. “Good lord! No wonder you lot never get out! No, I’ll have you there in a trice, Dr Moon, in a twinkling, in two shakes of a lamb’s tail, in a hop, skip, and a proverbial jump!” she punctuated the last word with a little leap into the air and began jigging around the bench again.

Moony hid her face behind her hands again, “Really could you stop that? You’re making me giddy. And anyway, how do I know you’re not like a murderer or a really chirpy kidnapper? Come fly with me, that’s like the oldest trick in the book.”

The Doctor laughed, then stopped when she saw that Moony was actually quite serious, “Grr you humans! You come over all suspicious at the oddest times. You’re the one who hit me with a car, not vice versa-”

“I didn’t do that! I have a car; I don’t even know how to drive!”

“I should say not!” the Doctor stopped jigging and sat down on the bench again. “I’ve never met someone so reluctant to step into a fairy tale. Right. All right, then. Change of plan. We’ll see something stupendous right here.”

Moony looked about her, “Right where?”

“Right here in London. I didn’t mean here on this bench. I’m not a magician; I’m only good at seeing things.”

Moony sort of hiccoughed, “Except for cars.”

The Doctor let out a little yip of laughter, “And you’re funny! Had a feeling you would be. Funny’s good; we like funny. So then. Dr Moon. What do you say?” she offered Moony her hand. “Shall we see something marvellous?”

Gillian Moon regarded the Doctor’s outstretched hand for a moment. Then she reached out and took it, “Yeah. All right.”


End file.
